Three rocks for $20

Fresh said he climbed into a nearby cedar on Feb. 25 and set up a banner with these words on it: “The world is watching. Can UC change?” A few day later, he came down but then took up residence in the oak tree, which is across from Wheeler Hall and just north of Sather Gate and Sproul Plaza.

His concerns are broad – everything from Cal’s deals with BP and Dow Chemical to how it treats campus custodians and Indian remains – but his major target is the UC Board of Regents that governs the university.

The oak is now encircled by metal barricades erected Tuesday night, and two campus police officers are there around the clock, said Mitch Celaya, assistant chief of the UC Berkeley Police Department. “A lot of people are sick and tired of seeing people in trees,” Celaya said.

Last Thursday, passer-by Jessica Schley was arrested for obstructing an officer after she defied police orders and tossed a water bottle to Fresh, who has not been allowed to receive food or drink. He is now fasting on the juice of lemons and oranges, the remnants of which were scattered around the base of the tree.

Wednesday, he drew a steady crowd of visitors, including Zachary Running Wolf, a leader of the Memorial Stadium tree sit-in who has been arrested a dozen times. “I love it,” Running Wolf exulted. “Now it’s down here in the middle of campus.”

Not surprisingly, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof had a different reaction. “It’s not clear to us what his goals are,” he said. “This is a ridiculous and seemingly pointless way to get attention.”

Fresh got a friendlier reception from about 30 students from Antelope Crossing Middle School in Sacramento. They were on a campus field trip when they spotted the tree-sitter. Pressing against the barricade, they bombarded him with questions.

Is it fun up there? What if you fall down? How do you go to the bathroom? Why don’t the cops come up and get you? Why don’t they use a helicopter?

Seventh-grader Vlad Tkachuk, 12, said, “I thought it was a bum at first. It’s hard to live in a tree.”

the dénouement…

Tree-sitter comes down, is cited

Steve Rubenstein,Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, March 15, 2008

BERKELEY — A protester who had been perched in an oak tree at UC Berkeley for 17 days declared victory Friday and climbed down, where he was promptly handcuffed by UC police and cited for trespassing.

The protester, former business student Michael “Fresh” Schuck, returned to earth a few hours after police confiscated his hammock and sleeping bag, leaving him alone in the rain with only a backpack and blanket.

“I felt like it was the right time to come down,” Schuck said Friday afternoon as he sat with his friends in a circle outside the UC Berkeley police station, burning sage and stretching his legs. “My goals were accomplished. I wanted to raise awareness and create a discussion and dialogue.”

Schuck, who has been fasting since his roost began, said he was thrilled to be on solid ground again. His friends planned to celebrate his return with a party Friday night.

“We’re going to cook for him,” said Megan Zoe, a senior majoring in human rights and social justice. “He only eats raw food, though, so I’m not sure what we’ll cook exactly.”

Before Schuck decided to make his return to planet Earth, it was not at all clear when, or if, he would ever descend from his perch 20 feet above ground.

All morning, rumors circulated that Friday was the day. A group of tree-sitter opponents calling themselves “Students Against Hippies in Trees” said they would show up and hold a rally of their own, to make sure that the anti-tree-sitting cause was represented near Sproul Plaza along with the dozen or so other causes whose supporters were pitching their spiels and handing out leaflets at folding tables.

Many students, accustomed to seeing people in trees, streamed by with barely a glance. A few stopped to holler up at Schuck and ask him if he was coming down.

“It is what it is,” Schuck replied.

By noon, about 15 cops and a crowd of 200 souls had gathered beneath the tree, which was ringed by police barricades. People in the crowd began jawing at one another until someone suggested that everyone sit down in a circle for a “dialogue,” and that’s what happened.

Supporters and opponents of the tree man took turns speaking to one another, politely and cordially, to the dismay of the three-rocks-for-$20 man.

Through it all, Schuck gazed down with what seemed to be a smile at the scene he had created. “And here we all are,” he said.